Apple and other Computer Giants facing Ethernet Lawsuit

October 19, 2009

Apple, together with several computer manufacturers were now in trouble because of a patent infringement lawsuit filed against them by US Ethernet Innovations.

Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, Hp, Sony and Toshiba also were involved for violation of 313 patents. Apparently, they were allegedly accused of stealing intellectual property in at least one four patents subjected to 3Com from 1994 to 1998.

"We believe that the continued aggressive enforcement of the fundamental ethernet technologies developed by 3Com against the waves of cheap, knock-off, foreign manufactured equipment is a necessary step in protecting the competitiveness of this American technology and American companies in general," said USEI CEO David Kennedy.

The famous MacBook Pro was at one point included because of infringement in the Network Interface with Hose Independent Buffer Management, a 313 patent. They said there were imitations that were cheaper and affected their sales negatively.

Realtek also suffered the same fate when 3Com filed the same lawsuit. They had a $70 million settlement.